After WWII, ex-Gestapo officer Kessler flees as a war criminal, escaping with wealth to Paraguay to start anew as a businessman. He dreams of fascism's return while former Lifeline members h... Read allAfter WWII, ex-Gestapo officer Kessler flees as a war criminal, escaping with wealth to Paraguay to start anew as a businessman. He dreams of fascism's return while former Lifeline members hunt him.After WWII, ex-Gestapo officer Kessler flees as a war criminal, escaping with wealth to Paraguay to start anew as a businessman. He dreams of fascism's return while former Lifeline members hunt him.
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Difficult to watch. This is an overdrawn Boys of Brazil. With similarly thick accents. The plot is not gripping at all. The Israeli girl a poor actress. The show grows preachy (European country do so little to catch the war criminals that we are told with a straight Israel must do the job, the whol hit squad being a petite Sephardic woman), the Fourth Reich business was already laughable in 1981. The show is slow, hardly believable, the characters are hard to like, the "nostalgic" bits too frequent. Pass you way. Just watch the Secret Army, a far more subtle series (especially in its second and third seasons).
I remember watching this when it was first shown on the BBC. It takes the story on, post-war, of what becomes of Gestapo chief Kessler. Hopefully UK Drama will show this - as they are now showing Secret Army.
All the superlatives about Secret Army apply equally to this. It may be a cliche, but drama like this makes the BBC license fee worthwhile!
All the superlatives about Secret Army apply equally to this. It may be a cliche, but drama like this makes the BBC license fee worthwhile!
TalkingPicturesTV in the UK have aired the Secret Army series are now following with Kessler. When shown originally I missed much of both series due to work and family commitments. I am really pleased to be watching them - first The secret Army and now half way though Kessler.
Both have been a joy to watch with top-notch casting, scripts and filming that make we realise why I am so disappointed, with one or two exceptions, of most of the offers from modern film, streaming and TV. More so, to see some of the cast in their skilled and attractive youth I wonder why we haven't seen more of them over the years.
Both have been a joy to watch with top-notch casting, scripts and filming that make we realise why I am so disappointed, with one or two exceptions, of most of the offers from modern film, streaming and TV. More so, to see some of the cast in their skilled and attractive youth I wonder why we haven't seen more of them over the years.
A Belgian journalist sets the wheels in motion, in a bid to hunt down former Nazi officer, Ludwig Kessler, who's now living a successful new life, with a new name.
It's definitely an interesting storyline, a group of fanatics still desperate to see Hitler's plans put into action, a network exposed.
The chances are you'll have come here from The Secret Army, hoping for an extension of that great series, and a continuation of that same quality, unfortunately Kessler doesn't quite hit those levels.
It's a bit of a clunky production, it doesn't move at pace, it doesn't really spark into life until later on in the series, the first trio of episodes are actually slow moving.
Initially you'll wonder if the budget was quite small, but it soon becomes apparent that it was used for the location work, and it's fair to say there is a great variety, it never feels studio bound.
The acting, for me this was the stumbling block, Clifford Rose was pretty good as the titled character, I found his character quite well rounded and sincere, the supporting cast however, some of the acting was flat, with blank characters, I never felt like I understood why Rak and Bauer were so heavily involved.
I've tried a few times to watch it, but always quit after episode two or three, I'm glad I persisted this time, as it does improve towards the end, sadly the first half of the series is just so dull.
6/10.
It's definitely an interesting storyline, a group of fanatics still desperate to see Hitler's plans put into action, a network exposed.
The chances are you'll have come here from The Secret Army, hoping for an extension of that great series, and a continuation of that same quality, unfortunately Kessler doesn't quite hit those levels.
It's a bit of a clunky production, it doesn't move at pace, it doesn't really spark into life until later on in the series, the first trio of episodes are actually slow moving.
Initially you'll wonder if the budget was quite small, but it soon becomes apparent that it was used for the location work, and it's fair to say there is a great variety, it never feels studio bound.
The acting, for me this was the stumbling block, Clifford Rose was pretty good as the titled character, I found his character quite well rounded and sincere, the supporting cast however, some of the acting was flat, with blank characters, I never felt like I understood why Rak and Bauer were so heavily involved.
I've tried a few times to watch it, but always quit after episode two or three, I'm glad I persisted this time, as it does improve towards the end, sadly the first half of the series is just so dull.
6/10.
As the follow-on from Secret Army, Kessler lacks everything Secret Army had, tension, drama, good storylines and plotting and well-drawn characters. Alan Dobie's role as Richard Bauer is poorly developed and you never manage to find out why exactly he is pursuing Kessler or why. Nitza Saul's role, as the young Israeli chasing Kessler and helping Bauer, lacks any definition at all. Alison Glennie, as Kessler's daughter Ingrid, is little more than a cardboard cutout pretend Nazi. Not one of Gerald Glaister's better efforts
Did you know
- TriviaThe serial incorporates several elements of What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1979), the never aired final episode of Secret Army (1977) which was also written by John Brason: Kessler married his Belgian mistress Madeleine Duclos, who has since died, and has established himself as a major industrialist in West Germany under the pseudonym Manfred Dorf, Monique has a son in his twenties and returns to Brussels for the first time since the end of the war, Albert still owns the Candide in addition to six other restaurants and the surviving members of Lifeline reunite for the purposes of a documentary series entitled "In Our Time" which attempts to expose Kessler as a Nazi war criminal.
- Crazy creditsThe opening titles start by displaying the letters SS which change to the name Kessler.
- ConnectionsFollows Secret Army (1977)
- How many seasons does Kessler have?Powered by Alexa
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